When Detective Inspector Keith Tremayne attends the races, he expects nothing more than an afternoon watching horses thunder around a track. The unexpected death of champion racehorse Midnight Gallop disrupts the festivities. Still, it’s the discovery of Eliza Blackwood’s strangled body in deserted stables that transforms a day at the races into a high-stakes murder investigation.

Eliza—the beautiful, reckless daughter of controversial racehorse owner Dominic Blackwood—is found among hay bales, her body still warm, when Tremayne stumbles upon it. His presence raises uncomfortable questions: Was he deliberately lured there? Is someone setting him up?

As Tremayne delves into thoroughbred racing’s high-stakes world, he uncovers gambling debts, forbidden affairs, and family rivalries. Eliza’s romantic history reads like a racing form—powerful men with motives to silence her, including a jockey threatened by her knowledge of race-fixing, a rival owner she blackmailed, and her father’s business partner with whom she shared more than business connections.

When a stable hand is found hanging days later—an apparent suicide with a confession note—the case should close. But the timing seems too convenient, and the evidence is too perfect. Why would a man kill himself for a woman who barely acknowledged his existence?

Meanwhile, Tremayne’s health problems intensify. His superiors suggest retirement, but the veteran detective refuses to be sidelined. This case has become personal—perhaps his last chance to prove that experience trumps youth and determination can overcome physical limitations.